Social partnerships

As part of our corporate engagement, we enter into social partnerships in the communities around the world where Henkel is located to support social initiatives and public institutions. These include sports clubs, hospitals, kindergartens, schools and universities, charity organizations, and cultural events. We do not support political parties.

Corporate engagement: Forscherwelt

The idea behind the Forscherwelt at Henkel is to take children on scientific adventures, showing them how much fun research can be. Since the beginning of 2012, the Forscherwelt – whose patron is Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah, Chair of the Shareholders' Committee and Supervisory Board of Henkel – has been open to elementary schools in Düsseldorf and its surroundings. Henkel supplies the equipment and materials for the laboratory, which was specially designed for children. The students are guided through the experiments by their teachers. To help the teachers prepare, Henkel offers them separate training sessions in the Forscherwelt. In 2012, the program will also include one-week projects on sustainability.Henkel Forscherwelt

Our business sectors and our brands also sponsor non-profit projects – often together with partners. Examples of this engagement by our brands are Persil's "Futurino" project, Schwarzkopf Professional's "Shaping Futures" initiative, and Metylan's sponsoring of vocational training for painters and decorators.

Brand engagement: "El Balad Baladna" –This Country is Our Country

Week after week at the end of 2010, the people in Egypt went onto the streets to demonstrate for more democracy and freedom. In February 2011, a revolution finally ousted the old regime. The demonstrations left their mark on Cairo's streets. This was the starting point for a project sponsored by Henkel: "Working together for a new Egypt." To clean up Cairo, volunteers – including Henkel employees – worked their way through the streets of Cairo, scrubbing the sidewalks and removing graffiti from the city's walls. Through Facebook and Twitter, people were also able to propose new cities to the Henkel cleaning team and vote on where it should go next.Facebook/Elbaladbaladna

Brand engagement: Henkel does its part for society

Through our brands and our employees, we engage in charitable projects all over the world. Our Cosmetics/Toiletries business sector, for example, has been supporting the international "Look Good...Feel Better" program as a partner company since 2006. Under the umbrella of this initiative, and working with non-profit associations like the German "DKMS life" or the "Schweizer Verein für Frauen nach Brustkrebs" (Swiss association for life after breast cancer), it offers free cosmetics seminars for female cancer patients. Schwarzkopf Professional has also been partnering with hairdressers in the "Shaping Futures" initiative to provide training for young people in SOS Children's Villages.

Brand engagement: Shaping Futures

In November 2010, together with the charity SOS Children's Villages, Schwarzkopf Professional launched the Shaping Futures initiative in India and Peru. The aim of this worldwide initiative is to teach the basic techniques of professional hairdressing to young people in SOS Children's Villages. In the long term, this should enable these young people to earn their own living. Hairdressers from Schwarzkopf Professional and volunteer Schwarzkopf hairdressing customers train young people for four weeks in SOS Children's Villages. Each participant is given a start-up case with hairdressing equipment, such as scissors, comb, hair clips and cape, and receives a certificate after successful completion of the course. Furthermore, Schwarzkopf then offers the participants a chance to gain some practical experience at hairdressing salons. In the first series of courses, 16 trainers introduced more than 60 young people to the craft of hairdressing. This initiative by Schwarzkopf Professional shows in an exemplary manner how Henkel employees use their professional know-how, in collaboration with their customers, to offer a better future to young people in need of help. Our employees thus live Henkel's values and contribute to the sustainable development of communities by promoting entrepreneurship through training.

In August 2011, Henkel employees and hairdressing clients of Schwarzkopf Professional visited the SOS Children’s Village in Lima, Peru, for the second time as volunteer trainers. In two- to four-week training courses, 15 young people were able to improve their knowledge and skills and learn new cutting techniques that will help them to embark on careers as hairdressers. Schwarzkopf Professional – Shaping Futures